Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 17, 2026

Quantifying Infra-slow Dynamics of Spectral Power and Heart Rate in Sleeping Mice
10:56

Quantifying Infra-slow Dynamics of Spectral Power and Heart Rate in Sleeping Mice

Published on: August 2, 2017

Sleep spindles are locally modulated by training on a brain-computer interface.

Lise A Johnson1, Tim Blakely, Dora Hermes

  • 1University of Washington, Department of Neurological Surgery, Seattle, WA 98195, USA. liseaj@uw.edu

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
|October 24, 2012
PubMed
Summary

Sleep spindles enhance motor learning by promoting synaptic plasticity. This study shows increased spindle activity in specific brain regions after learning a motor task using a brain-computer interface, supporting sleep's role in skill acquisition.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Association between motor cortex grey matter loss and inability to control an ECoG-based implanted Brain-Computer Interface in ALS.

medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences·2026
Same author

Electrical signatures of divergent connectivity in the human subgenual cingulate cortex.

medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences·2026
Same author

Optimal positioning and size of high-density electrocorticography grids for speech brain-computer interfaces.

Clinical neurophysiology : official journal of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology·2026
Same author

Pulvinar Subregions Influence Select Cortical Pathways in Humans.

The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience·2026
Same author

Temporal responses in sensorimotor cortex during hand movements.

PloS one·2026
Same author

Broadband synergy versus oscillatory redundancy in the visual cortex.

Nature communications·2026

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Sleep Research
  • Brain-Computer Interfaces

Background:

  • Sleep is known to improve motor task learning.
  • Sleep spindles are hypothesized to facilitate motor learning through synaptic plasticity.
  • Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) offer a novel way to study motor learning.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the role of sleep spindles in learning to control a motor-based brain-computer interface.
  • To determine if sleep spindle activity changes spatially in response to learning a novel motor task.

Main Methods:

  • Subjects with electrocorticography (ECoG) arrays for epilepsy monitoring were trained to control a cursor using a BCI.
  • Motor task involved modulating high-gamma or mu/beta power at a specific electrode in the motor/premotor cortex.

More Related Videos

Brain-Computer Interface-controlled Upper Limb Robotic System for Enhancing Daily Activities in Stroke Patients
06:11

Brain-Computer Interface-controlled Upper Limb Robotic System for Enhancing Daily Activities in Stroke Patients

Published on: April 18, 2025

Optogenetic Entrainment of Hippocampal Theta Oscillations in Behaving Mice
07:33

Optogenetic Entrainment of Hippocampal Theta Oscillations in Behaving Mice

Published on: June 29, 2018

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: May 17, 2026

Quantifying Infra-slow Dynamics of Spectral Power and Heart Rate in Sleeping Mice
10:56

Quantifying Infra-slow Dynamics of Spectral Power and Heart Rate in Sleeping Mice

Published on: August 2, 2017

Brain-Computer Interface-controlled Upper Limb Robotic System for Enhancing Daily Activities in Stroke Patients
06:11

Brain-Computer Interface-controlled Upper Limb Robotic System for Enhancing Daily Activities in Stroke Patients

Published on: April 18, 2025

Optogenetic Entrainment of Hippocampal Theta Oscillations in Behaving Mice
07:33

Optogenetic Entrainment of Hippocampal Theta Oscillations in Behaving Mice

Published on: June 29, 2018

  • Spindle density was compared between pre-training and post-training sleep periods.

    • Main Results:

    • All trained subjects showed increased spindle density in post-training sleep compared to pre-training sleep.
    • The increase in spindle density was spatially specific, correlating with the brain regions involved in task learning.
    • This spatially specific increase supports the hypothesis that sleep spindles are involved in motor learning.

    Conclusions:

    • Sleep spindles play a crucial role in the consolidation of motor skills learned via brain-computer interfaces.
    • The findings demonstrate a direct link between sleep spindle activity and the neural plasticity underlying motor learning.
    • This research supports the use of sleep spindle modulation as a potential strategy to enhance BCI-based motor rehabilitation.